Column: Saints can't overcome first half misery, go down fighting

BATON ROUGE - In the end, the New Orleans Saints were a Popeyes wing and a prayer short of upsetting the Seahawks in the NFC Divisional Playoffs on Saturday in Seattle.

Do not know what Saints receiver Marques Colston was thinking on the last play of the game. If he scoots out of bounds, quarterback Drew Brees has a chance to throw that prayer from inside Seattle territory. Colston, though, attempted a cross-field lateral in the tradition of the Music City Miracle - only Colston's was obviously forward.

The Saints lost the game when they failed to capitalize on an Auburn-like break in the fourth quarter while trailing just 16-8. Wide receiver Robert Meachem caught a 52-yard deflected pass from Brees that was poorly thrown and bounced off a Seattle defender and into the hands of Meachem, who got to the Seattle 25. But the Saints immediately lost five yards for delay of game, which is inexcusable and extremely uncharacteristic of Saints coach Sean Payton and Brees. The Saints failed to score after such a gift and eventually fell behind 23-8. And it was over.

Brees put together a quick touchdown drive for a score with under a minute to play, and New Orleans even recovered the onside kick. But there would be no more miracles. At least, the Saints went down swinging, though, and kept playing hard even after falling behind 16-0 in the second quarter.

The Saints defense - the story of 2013 behind first-year coordinator Rob Ryan - kept New Orleans in the game and gave the Saints a fighting chance. The offense was putrid in the first half with just 113 yards, and Brees had the worst half of his Saints career as he completed just 5 of 12 passes for 34 yards.

The offense came alive in the second half and challenged the NFC's best team. Brees came back strong, finishing 24-of-43 passing for 309 yards. The Saints outgained Seattle 409 yards to 277, and Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson managed just 9-of-18 passing for 103 yards. But they needed a few more biscuits.

"I was proud and am proud of how our team fought this year," Payton said. "It wasn't enough for what we aspire to do. We are a young team. I thought there were a lot of good signs this season from young players and veterans too. We had a lot of injuries, but we found a way to play complementary football."

The Saints did have major injuries on defense as cornerback Jabari Greer and safety Kenny Vaccaro were both lost for the season, but they kept playing well. The future looks bright for the defense, which played more consistently well than did the offense in 2013 - particularly on the road. No one would have believed that one year ago today as New Orleans was the worst defense in NFL history in 2012.

The offense, though, needs some work and some new blood at wide receiver and at running back. This was painfully obvious against the NFL's best defense, which simply focused on shutting out Brees' best weapon - tight end Jimmy Graham, who had no catches until 20 seconds remained in the game.

It's truly amazing how good the Saints have been under Payton since 2009 - 16-3 Super Bowl champions in 2009-10, 11-6 with a playoff appearance in 2010, 14-4 in 2011 with a NFC South title and a victory in the playoffs and 12-6 in 2013-14 with the franchise's first road playoff victory - considering they have not had a great wide receiver or great running back over that span.

With the defense sound, New Orleans needs to go for it in the off-season as far as acquiring big play offensive skill players and another lineman to help Brees and Payton's genius.

Brees remains one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but that is not going to last too much longer. New Orleans' Super Bowl window is closing fast. It's time to get some talent elsewhere the likes of Brees and Graham.

All in all, though, 2013-14 was a very good season for the Saints. And with some key acquisitions on offense in the off-season, there will be legitimate hope for another Super Bowl soon.

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Column: Saints can't overcome first half misery, go down fighting

BATON ROUGE ? In the end, the New Orleans Saints were a Popeyes wing and a prayer short of upsetting the Seahawks in the NFC Divisional Playoffs on Saturday in Seattle.